Free Republic

One of our greatest Florida foods is about to be put off-limits for five years. I am talking about Apalachicola oysters, those sweet and salty mollusks that are best served raw on the half-shell with a little lemon juice. There was a time when nine out of every 10 oysters eaten in Florida came from Apalachicola Bay, and one out of every 10 across the U.S. – but not anymore. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is scheduled to vote next week on banning the harvest of wild oysters from Apalachicola Bay starting Aug. 1 and continuing through 2025....

APALACHICOLA, Fla. - This seaside town was without power Saturday after a tornado tore through the area, damaging several buildings and leaving two people with minor injuries, authorities said. Some residents could have power restored on Saturday, said Butch Baker, Franklin County's emergency management director. "The best case scenario would be midnight, and that may not be all over the entire town," Baker said. Baker said eyewitnesses confirmed that it was a tornado that struck the town of some 2,500 people, about 65 miles southwest of Tallahassee. "It was like a black wall," Helen Reese, an admission clerk at George...

Florida, Georgia and Alabama Close to Reaching Water Sharing Deal By: Brendan Farrington The Naples Daily News May 17, 2003 TALLAHASSEE — The governors of Florida, Georgia and Alabama said Friday they have almost completed an agreement on how to share water from three rivers flowing through their states, saying the major point to discuss now is the length of the agreement. The three states have been arguing for more than a decade over the water flowing through the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin, but the Republican governors expressed hope that an agreement would be in place by a July 31 deadline....